Cisco's Edition of Openstack (COE) is almost entirely composed of Puppet modules with a small number of bash scripts. At its core, puppet is a system that enables users to describe the state of the system they are managing, and the puppet runtime will ensure that the system matches that state. Do do this, puppet manages a number of what are termed "Resources". For example, puppet can ensure that a package is installed, that a file has certain contents, or that a service is running. In fact, for many simple deployments, these [http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet_core_types_cheatsheet.pdf three] resources will cover all of what is required. These resources can be grouped into classes and modules, to allow developers to separate concerns.

+

Cisco's OpenStack Installer (COI) is almost entirely composed of Puppet modules with a small number of bash scripts. At its core, puppet is a system that enables users to describe the state of the system they are managing, and the puppet runtime will ensure that the system matches that state. To do this, puppet manages a number of what are termed "Resources". For example, puppet can ensure that a package is installed, that a file has certain contents, or that a service is running. In fact, for many simple deployments, these [http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet_core_types_cheatsheet.pdf three] resources will cover all of what is required. These resources can be grouped into classes and modules, to allow developers to separate concerns.

-

Before attempting to modify COE, it is recommended that developers are comfortable writing their own puppet modules. There is a wealth of information on the [http://docs.puppetlabs.com/ Puppetlabs] site including a [http://docs.puppetlabs.com/learning/ tutorial] on how to work with Puppet.

+

Before attempting to modify COI, it is recommended that developers are comfortable writing their own puppet modules. There is a wealth of information on the [http://docs.puppetlabs.com/ Puppetlabs] site including a [http://docs.puppetlabs.com/learning/ tutorial] on how to work with Puppet.

-

== COE Structure ==

+

== COI Structure ==

-

COE currently uses 33 Puppet modules, each managing a particular part of the deployment, plus a "manifests" package that ties together the modules. For example, the naginator module is used to install the nagios monitoring system on all nodes, so in the manifests package there are lines of puppet that enable this module for each node. There are also two classes called control and compute within the manifests, which can be used to configure what is on openstack compute nodes and what is on the control nodes, like so:

+

COI currently uses ~30 Puppet modules, each managing a particular part of the deployment, plus a "manifests" package that ties together the modules. For example, the naginator module is used to install the nagios monitoring system on all nodes. In the manifests package there are puppet class and define elements that enable this module for each node. There are also two higher order classes called control and compute within the manifests, which are currently used to configure what is on openstack compute nodes and what is on the control nodes, like so:

-

manifests/core.pp

+

/etc/puppet/manifests/core.pp

<pre>

<pre>

Line 19:

Line 19:

</pre>

</pre>

-

So to have a compute node, in site.pp we could have a line such as:

+

So to have a compute node, in <code>site.pp</code> we could have a line such as:

-

manifests/site.pp

+

/etc/puppet/manifests/site.pp

<pre>

<pre>

node my_compute_node {

node my_compute_node {

Line 30:

Line 30:

This allows us to easily configure the compute and control nodes separately. To have something on every node, such as nagios, we create a node type and inherit our nodes from that, like so:

This allows us to easily configure the compute and control nodes separately. To have something on every node, such as nagios, we create a node type and inherit our nodes from that, like so:

-

manifests/core.pp

+

/etc/puppet/manifests/core.pp

<pre>

<pre>

node base {

node base {

Line 38:

Line 38:

</pre>

</pre>

-

manifests/site.pp

+

/etc/puppet/manifests/site.pp

<pre>

<pre>

node my_compute_node inherits base {

node my_compute_node inherits base {

Line 49:

Line 49:

<li>There are a large number of arguments to each of the classes. This allows customisation without having to edit anything more than site.pp.</li>

<li>There are a large number of arguments to each of the classes. This allows customisation without having to edit anything more than site.pp.</li>

<li>There is more than one base class. Because the build node sits outside the openstack cluster but is still managed by puppet, there is a <code>base</code> node type, then inheriting from that that there is <code>os_base</code> for openstack nodes and <code>build-node</code> for the build node. </li>

<li>There is more than one base class. Because the build node sits outside the openstack cluster but is still managed by puppet, there is a <code>base</code> node type, then inheriting from that that there is <code>os_base</code> for openstack nodes and <code>build-node</code> for the build node. </li>

-

<li>Nodes seem to be defined twice in site.pp. This is because they are defined once for the build node via their out of band address so that it can PXE boot and install ubuntu, and once so that puppet can manage them.</li>

+

<li>Nodes seem to be defined twice in <code>site.pp</code>. This is because they are defined once for the build node via their out of band address so that it can PXE boot and install ubuntu, and once so that puppet can manage them.</li>

</ol>

</ol>

+

+

== Machine Provisioning ==

+

+

In addition to the management of all nodes (including itself) using puppet, the build node is responsible for booting and provisioning the base OS of the control and compute nodes. This is done using [https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/User%20Documentation Cobbler], which is itself installed and configured using puppet. The first commands to install COI are to download the manifests folder and install the needed puppet modules to the build node, and after this a <code>puppet apply</code> is run locally on the build node. This <code>puppet apply</code> will install Cobbler, the Ubuntu 12.04 install image, and the puppetmaster along with some ancillary services such as apt-cache and DNS. The compute and control nodes will be populated into the Cobbler database and can then be turned on and provisioned. A quick look at <code>cobbler_node.pp</code> shows this basic structure:

# Things that will be installed on any node that inherits "cobbler-node"

+

...

+

}

+

</pre>

+

+

It is important to draw the distinction between these two sections. The first section is used to inform the build node that it needs to put something into Cobbler to manage a compute or control node. Both types of nodes are provisioned in the same way, so they are simply called <code>"cobbler_node"</code> at this point. In <code>site.pp</code>, they are seen like this:

So we can see that the build server now knows which machines to provision via these <code>cobbler_node</code> definitions, and that is the reason for #3 in the previous section: puppet needs to know where a machine is to manage it, and Cobbler needs to know the out of band access details in order to provision it. The reason for inheriting <code>master-node</code> is that <code>master-node</code> is in <code>core.pp</code> with all the ancillary classes for the build node, and <code>master-node</code> inherits from <code>cobbler-node</code> which is the second section in <code>cobbler_node.pp</code> and contains only the Cobbler module definition to install Cobbler on the build node.

+

+

== More Detail ==

+

+

If you are planning on making serious modifications to COI, more detail on each of the modules is available [[Openstack:Extending COE | here]]

Revision as of 04:37, 15 May 2013

Cisco's OpenStack Installer (COI) is almost entirely composed of Puppet modules with a small number of bash scripts. At its core, puppet is a system that enables users to describe the state of the system they are managing, and the puppet runtime will ensure that the system matches that state. To do this, puppet manages a number of what are termed "Resources". For example, puppet can ensure that a package is installed, that a file has certain contents, or that a service is running. In fact, for many simple deployments, these three resources will cover all of what is required. These resources can be grouped into classes and modules, to allow developers to separate concerns.

Before attempting to modify COI, it is recommended that developers are comfortable writing their own puppet modules. There is a wealth of information on the Puppetlabs site including a tutorial on how to work with Puppet.

COI Structure

COI currently uses ~30 Puppet modules, each managing a particular part of the deployment, plus a "manifests" package that ties together the modules. For example, the naginator module is used to install the nagios monitoring system on all nodes. In the manifests package there are puppet class and define elements that enable this module for each node. There are also two higher order classes called control and compute within the manifests, which are currently used to configure what is on openstack compute nodes and what is on the control nodes, like so:

This allows us to easily configure the compute and control nodes separately. To have something on every node, such as nagios, we create a node type and inherit our nodes from that, like so:

/etc/puppet/manifests/core.pp

node base {
class { "naginator::base_target":
}
}

/etc/puppet/manifests/site.pp

node my_compute_node inherits base {
class { compute: }
}

These are the two main mechanisms in place for controlling what is installed on the nodes managed by puppet. If you look through the folsom-manifests repository, you'll see that there are a number of differences to what is shown above:

There are a large number of arguments to each of the classes. This allows customisation without having to edit anything more than site.pp.

There is more than one base class. Because the build node sits outside the openstack cluster but is still managed by puppet, there is a base node type, then inheriting from that that there is os_base for openstack nodes and build-node for the build node.

Nodes seem to be defined twice in site.pp. This is because they are defined once for the build node via their out of band address so that it can PXE boot and install ubuntu, and once so that puppet can manage them.

Machine Provisioning

In addition to the management of all nodes (including itself) using puppet, the build node is responsible for booting and provisioning the base OS of the control and compute nodes. This is done using Cobbler, which is itself installed and configured using puppet. The first commands to install COI are to download the manifests folder and install the needed puppet modules to the build node, and after this a puppet apply is run locally on the build node. This puppet apply will install Cobbler, the Ubuntu 12.04 install image, and the puppetmaster along with some ancillary services such as apt-cache and DNS. The compute and control nodes will be populated into the Cobbler database and can then be turned on and provisioned. A quick look at cobbler_node.pp shows this basic structure:

It is important to draw the distinction between these two sections. The first section is used to inform the build node that it needs to put something into Cobbler to manage a compute or control node. Both types of nodes are provisioned in the same way, so they are simply called "cobbler_node" at this point. In site.pp, they are seen like this:

So we can see that the build server now knows which machines to provision via these cobbler_node definitions, and that is the reason for #3 in the previous section: puppet needs to know where a machine is to manage it, and Cobbler needs to know the out of band access details in order to provision it. The reason for inheriting master-node is that master-node is in core.pp with all the ancillary classes for the build node, and master-node inherits from cobbler-node which is the second section in cobbler_node.pp and contains only the Cobbler module definition to install Cobbler on the build node.

More Detail

If you are planning on making serious modifications to COI, more detail on each of the modules is available here